A former drug addict and sex worker who murdered an Aberdeen man in a city centre high-rise was jailed for 18 years today.
Elizabeth Sweeney, 36, was convicted at the High Court in Aberdeen of murdering Neil Jolly by violently attacking him and repeatedly striking him to the head and body with a kettle.
Sweeney – a crack and heroin addict at the time – was acquitted of attempting to conceal the murder by cleaning the body of Mr Jolly, 49, in the bathroom at his flat in Marischal Court before covering his body with a duvet.
She was also acquitted of attempting to destroy evidence by cleaning the kettle used in the murder.
A jury found Sweeney unanimously guilty of murdering Mr Jolly sometime between June 23 and June 25 2023.
At the High Court in Aberdeen today, Judge Andrew Miller sentenced her to life in prison, with a minimum of 18 years.
CCTV evidence of murder
CCTV showed Sweeney coming and going from Mr Jolly’s flat in the day between when he last seen alive at 9.55pm on June 23 2023 and when she called the police in the early hours of June 26 2023.
Sweeney was seen entering the Marischal Court tower block on various occasions to change her clothes.
On one such occasion, Sweeney was caught on camera entering the building wearing white trainers with what looked like blood soaked into the laces.
This evidence was backed up by witness Matthew Green who told advocate depute Erin Campbell that he saw Sweeney on Union Street, Aberdeen, with blood “all over” her trainers on the afternoon of June 23 2023.
“It looked like she had stepped in a puddle of it,” he said, adding: “I’ve seen blood before, and it was wet.”
He continued: “I asked her where the blood had come from, and she said ‘I have just f****** murdered someone’.
“She was saying it seriously, but she had a little laugh.”
Killer seen socialising in days after murder
In the days it is believed Mr Jolly lay dead in his flat, Sweeney was seen walking the streets of Aberdeen meeting friends, scoring drugs, and drinking in the street.
On one occasion she met a male friend and went drinking for nearly 10 hours, where she could be seen on CCTV kissing, cuddling and occasionally dancing with him.
But in the early hours of June 26, a frantic Elizabeth Sweeney called the police and reported that she thought Mr Jolly was within his flat, badly injured.
Around the same time, a friend of hers, Ian Gray found Sweeney sobbing on King Street and claiming she had “murdered somebody”.
Police subsequently went to Mr Jolly’s flat where they found him dead in his bathroom covered with a duvet.
The living room and hallway of Mr Jolly’s apartment showed signs of a struggle, with blood on the floor and blood-spatter on the walls “almost to the ceiling”.
Judge sentences killer to life
Judge Miller told Sweeney today that she inflicted a “severe and fatal” brain injury to Mr Jolly that was described during the trial as similar to a high-impact road collision or a fall from height.
“I told you when you were convicted that murder is the most serious crime known to the law of Scotland,” Judge Miller continued.
“The murder of Neil Jolly was aggravated not only by prior malice and ill will and by domestic abuse but also by your attempts to interfere with the evidence by soaking Neil Jolly’s body with water and by attempting to clean blood from the bathroom of his flat and the kettle which you used in the assault.”
The judge also told Sweeney that after killing Mr Jolly, she “did nothing to seek help for Neil Jolly or to allow his body to be recovered”.
He added: “Instead, you appear to have spent that weekend in much the same way you would have spent any other weekend, apparently giving little or any thought to Neil Jolly’s fate or to your part in it.”
Judge Miller described the murder as an “enormous loss” to his family, including his three children.
“It’s clear that the family’s distress has been magnified by the knowledge of how Mr Jolly died and the knowledge that you left him, and he lay for three days after you murdered him before you contacted emergency services.”
‘She does show a high level of remorse’
Speaking on Sweeney’s behalf, David Moggach KC, standing in for her defence advocate Ian Duguid KC, told the court that his client had carried out an “impulsive” and “catastrophic act” upon Mr Jolly.
“The realisation of what she had done was difficult for her to deal with and to come to terms with – and she dealt with it by turning to drink and drugs,” Mr Moggach added.
He said that Sweeney had had time to reflect upon he actions and now takes “full responsibility for what she did and acknowledges the impact and the pain and loss that must be felt by Mr Jolly’s family and friends”.
“She does show a high level of remorse,” the defence advocate added.